I've been completely reckless when it comes to all of this so don't follow my lead. On my profile I never use my real name but when we exchange numbers I tell them my real name if they seem legit and they've almost always told me theirs. I'm very easy to find online and in the business world and I guess it's never bothered me. I've done e-transfer and they see my name there too. I bring them cash if that's what they prefer. I've brought SB's to my home when my family isn't there but would never do it again, it's really the scummiest thing you can do. Also interesting... out of 250+ number exchanges I've only ever had about 10 of them using a texting app, they also tend to give their real number. For those doing the texting app (I don't mean WhatsApp where you use your real number for it), I didn't end up meeting with any of them. Actually one I went back and forth with nicely for a good week, she asked to meet for coffee and when I showed up I'd been ghosted. None of the girls using texting apps ended up in meets so there's that to consider as well.
Same. About a year ago I had a thing with an SP that went on for a few months. Like others have described, paid for an hour but hung out 1-2 hrs. Wasn't really amazing, but a good start. Eventually I got paranoid with my identity and ended it. But then I started to use SA where for the past few months I've been, reckless, in what information about myself I end up revealing. One thing I did do was delete all social media including Linkedin. At this point I'm un-google-able. I have gotten a few extortion threats, but with Linkedin gone, they all vanished. And yeah same for me everyone gets my real number. The block feature on the phone is really handy.
A lot of girls see it as their mission to outdo my sexless "home situation". One girl even told me she wanted to blow me all night and went on about how much she loved me... the passion was ridiculous. Unfortunately along with the passion came beyond normal carelessness and I had to end it after a few weeks.
The thing about SA and similar sites is you can spend some money to be with a 9 or 10. You'd never get this on Bumble or Hinge. And the path from chat --> coffee --> bedroom is actually pretty quick, compared to the silly drama that takes place with traditional dating, not to mention the public exposure. Most girls on seeking are used to talking to married men and don't really judge you for it. But some do, and for those, they get blocked and I move on.
What I've been doing lately is different from what I had read on this thread and experimented with. I found someone and pay her an allowance that I felt was high, at least at first. I'm not going to reveal it. We spend long days together. Average $/hr works out to be less than any other SB/SP setup I've ever had. But here we have a good connection and I like her. No red flags, no baggage. There's a lot of good quality girls on SA, but they tend to be experienced SBs that were well "compensated" in the past. The one I'm seeing now is using up my entire hobby monthly budget, but honestly I don't care. I've gotten more work done (outside of this world) in the past month than most of the year and things are all falling into place now.
If you're on this forum then you probably make a decent income. Time is money. Sometimes giving a girl whatever she is asking for is just a drop in the bucket in exchange for the value you get. But as a number of people here have mentioned, really no need to compensate a girl for the first coffee date. That's just silly.
Regarding the expensive hotels, those day-time hotels have been great. Ends up costing $150 max, all in. We never end up spending more than 3-4hrs there though. I usually make the booking on the way there, and select the "pay now to save 25%" option. Then it's closer to $100. When you book these, try to get a room with a walk-in shower. Nothing kills the mood like a bathtub shower.